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Simon Ellis

Class of 2020

Bio

Hello Hello! I hope wherever you are is warm and sunny or cold and cozy, and I hope you are here to read a little bit more about my life as a Dartmouth student! In between running to classes about sustainability in developing nations and political philosophy, I love to stop and smell the roses (literally my favorite flower), grab a smoothie with my friends (blueberries are my favorite food), or just sit on the Green.

Academic Program

Government, Environmental Studies, Philosophy

Favorite Thing Right Now

Grey's Anatomy (no spoilers I'm on season 4)

Hometown

Holualoa, Hawai'i

Pronouns

He, Him, His

You are here

Simon's D-Plan

FallHanover

I came to Dartmouth as a Bio-Medical Engineering hopeful, and after my first week in class with Professor Murphy studying the classics of political philosophy, I totally changed my mind! I had never taken anything even close to a philosophy class in High School, so this was an amazing opportunity for me to be exposed to a field that I had never seen, and now love! I also loved bringing in the work I did in my other class (German 1) to this class so that I could read some of the pieces in German!

WinterHanover

With my new found love for Political Science, I decided to take one of the biggest requirements for the major, Gov 10. I worked with Prof. Horiuchi to do a really cool research project on the effect of fake news on American voters in the US! We actually looked into getting funding to work on the research and publish it in a journal. I was pretty worried about taking a super math heavy class, but it ended up working out pretty well.

SpringHanover

This spring in Hanover was one of my favorite terms! I had my first Green Key (which was my first concert ever) and I got to work in the admissions department with all of our visiting admitted students! I ended up hosting 6 students across the 2 weekends of "Dimensions", our admitted students weekends and ended up getting really close with a few of them. I still see them around on campus and they have hosted students of their own now!

SummerBerlin, Germany

So I did kind of a crazy thing and decided that I wanted my first time abroad to be a fully immersive home-stay study abroad with Dartmouth! I flew almost 18 hours from Hawai'i to London where I stayed with a really good friend and fellow Sophomore before jumping on a plane to Berlin. My host family and I got on immediately over our shared love of Lucky Charms, and I skype them almost once a month still! I will never forget riding down the cobblestone streets in my suburb of Berlin every morning and stopping by the Backeri to pick up a muffin on my way to class. It was such a surreal experience and something I would never have thought of doing before I came to Dartmouth. Also, fun fact, I got my first tattoo in Germany!

FallHanover

I took this amazing class with Susan Brison where we not only analyzed case books and took an in depth look at how the constitution is interrupted in various ways by various justices, but also had visits from law professors from all around the world! The class worked really well for me because it met twice a week during the evening, so I had time to schedule other events during the day.

WinterKona, Hawai'i

Through the help of one of my academic advisors and with the information I learned in my fall law class, I was lucky enough to get an internship at a non-profit law firm in my home town! I got the call while I was sitting eating breakfast in Collis, and because I was not in school during a time when a lot of other students are, I was the only intern and the first undergraduate intern the office had ever had. I got to work with the family law unit, and really made an impact that I was happy with.

SpringHanover

On a limb, I decided to apply for a class that looked at indigenous ways of knowing and how they proceeded or are intertwined with scientific study. During this class, I got to scrape a moose hide to make a traditional drum, learn from one of the foremost black ash basket makers in the world, and do biodiversity studies on local streams. This class was definitely one of the best I have ever taken at Dartmouth, and professor Reo is now helping with an independent study project!

Believe it or not, people ask me what I am going to do with my seemingly random academic pursuits on almost a daily basis. Officially, I am a Government major with Philosophy and Environmental Studies minors, on the Pre-Law track.

Whether staying inside and sipping hot chocolate while watching a movie, or getting outside and involved with intermural sports and campus traditions, there are so many things to do during the best season ever.

My partner and I explored the intersection of Indigenous feminism and environmentalism and actually got to interview a couple of really interesting academics and writers about their personal experiences as Native women in the environmental field.

I’m from a really small town called Holualoa on the Big Island of Hawai’i, so Dartmouth has been quite the change for me. Even though people like to tease me about snow and getting use to a place so different from my home, honestly...